


Enforcement Action Required

by TheGreatCatsby



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: F/M, past character death mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 02:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6220258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreatCatsby/pseuds/TheGreatCatsby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not everyone who gets shot should be shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Enforcement Action Required

**Author's Note:**

> Was talking about this with auriond on tumblr and now look! Fic!

As much as Akane wanted to have Ginoza on her team in the field, she always placed him with Mika. 

There were several reasons for this. Mika was young, and Ginoza was the only other person on the team who had experience as an Inspector. He could give her advice, if she wanted to listen, and mentor her. Ginoza had also grown more patient since he started as an Enforcer, and Mika needed someone patient. Akane put Kunizuka with her as well, because Kunizuka also had a lot of patience and some degree of compassion for the struggles of the new inspector. 

There was also a part of her that didn't want their relationship coming to light. She had a feeling that if they spent time together on the job, someone would notice their light touches, the fond looks exchanged, the concern Ginoza had for Akane, the closeness. It was better for both of them that no one else got involved. It was better to keep personal and professional separated. Akane appreciated that it was easier for her, since Ginoza lived and breathed his job now, couldn't even leave the building he worked in. But they'd agreed that this was better. And until now, it had worked. 

They were called out to a disturbance in one of the demolition blocks of the city. Apparently, a street scanner nearby had picked up someone with a spiking crime coefficient, and that person had run into the demolition block, which was free of scanners. They split up, Mika taking Ginoza and Kunizuka in one direction, Akane leading Sugo and Hinakawa in the other. 

Everything was quiet, eerily so. Akane's first day in the field had been in a similar kind of place. Homeless people huddled in the shadows, strange smells, the uncomfortable feeling of being watched and not knowing who was doing the watching. It wasn't the System. This place echoed back to a time before street scanners were normal, before one's mental state was laid bare for the government to see and analyse. 

Her communications device rang, startling her. Kunizuka. She picked it up. “What's going on?” 

“We have a situation,” Kunizuka said. There was an edge to her voice that Akane didn't like. 

“We'll be right there.” 

She ran towards the other team's location, Hinakawa and Sugo following close behind. The other team was in an alleyway between two abandoned apartment buildings, a dead end. As she approached, Akane heard a familiar voice, raised. 

“Just let me talk to him!” 

“We can talk to him when he'd in custody.” 

Akane rounded the corner and stopped short. 

Mika had her dominator pointed at a young boy, who was huddled against the back wall of the alley, his face hidden by his arms. Ginoza stood in front of her, his own dominator clutched in his hand, pointing towards the ground. Kunizuka glanced at Akane as she arrived, pale. 

“Look at him,” Ginoza insisted, gesturing to the boy. “He's ten at most! He's scared.” 

“He ran,” Mika said. 

“We need to find out what happened,” Ginoza said, “but you don't need to shoot him. He'll come with us.”

“He's been flagged,” Mika said. “Are you qualified to make that judgement?” 

“Yes,” Ginoza said, gritting his teeth. 

“No,” Mika said. “The Sibyl System is the only one qualified to make that judgement, and it has judged that enforcement action must be taken. If you aren't going to do your job, I am.” 

“I won't let you.” Ginoza stepped in front of Mika's dominator. 

“Mika!” Akane shouted, stepping forward. The boy raised his eyes to look at her, and Akane caught a glimpse of hope. He wanted to be helped. “Don't shoot.” 

“Am I the only one here willing to do my job?” Mika asked, glaring at Akane. “If we can't trust the dominator's judgement, what can we trust?” 

“Humans are still part of the equation for a reason,” Akane said. “You don't have to pull the trigger every time. You're not a mindless puppet. You're allowed to think, to assess the situation. The dominators are meant to help us, not control us.” 

“I've made my choice,” Mika said. She turned away, facing Ginoza. “I've decided to trust the System.” She pulled the trigger. 

Ginoza's body tensed, and he fell to the ground. Akane rushed forward. She wasn't sure what she meant to do. Part of her wanted to hold Ginoza. Part of her wanted to grab the boy and run. Part of her wanted to knock the dominator out of Mika's hand. 

She was too late. Mika shot again, Akane stopped short, and the boy siezed as the energy pulse hit him, and sprawled out on the ground. 

Mika lowered her gun. Her eyes were wide, stricken. For a moment, she looked young. So young. Then her expression hardened again, and she turned to Kunizuka. “Help me secure him.” 

Kunizuka nodded, face impassive. 

Akane knelt by Ginoza's side as the others dealt with the boy. He was unconscious, and she felt anger in her chest, making it tight. She brushed Ginoza's hair away from his forehead, tried to calm down. She hated seeing him like this. She hated being reminded that a single shot could bring him down because his number was too high. That if someone didn't like what he was doing, he could be rendered unconscious or worse. 

That his life didn't belong to him. Not anymore. 

She tried to remind herself that Mika was young. Younger than Akane had been when she'd become an Inspector. That Mika still had a lot of growing up to do, that she still had time to learn to think for herself rather than blindly follow the System. 

But as Ginoza's limp body was taken away, she found it hard to accept. 

*

“I'm sorry.” 

Akane looked up from the report she was reading. Mika's report, which somehow skimmed over Akane's involvement in the incident, placing the blame squarely on Ginoza. Maybe it was Mika's way of apologizing to Akane, but it left a bad taste in her mouth. She would be submitting corrections to the report later. 

Ginoza was watching her, looking tired, pale. 

“What are you apologizing for?” she asked. 

“For arguing,” Ginoza said. “Making it hard on you and Mika.” 

“You did what you felt was right.” 

“Had I been in her position, as an inspector,” Ginoza looked down, at his lap, “I would have shot him.” 

Akane took a deep breath. “What?” 

“That's what I was like, wasn't I? Following the rules to a fault.” Ginoza gave her a bitter smile. “I can understand why she did what she did. In the beginning, and even later on, I would have done the same. It's probably selfish, that now I feel more for latent criminals because I am one.” 

“I'm sure that's not the only reason,” Akane said, moving closer to him. Reaching out to lay a hand on his arm. “You're more open now.” 

“I was thinking about Kagari,” Ginoza said. Akane startled. “You know he was taken into the rehabilition facility at five, right?” 

Akane nodded. 

“He never told me how he was flagged, but I wondered,” Ginoza continued, “and this kid was the youngest latent criminal I've ever seen in the field. I thought about Kagari, and if he'd had to run. Probably not. He probably wasn't shot. But I didn't want to...I don't know. This kid is going to have a tough life, and I didn't want to start it off by shooting him. He had the right to choose to come with us to get help. He might still be able to recover.” 

“He might,” Akane said, even though the years at the PSB had shown her that people whose crime coefficients exceeded regulation value rarely recovered. She wondered why that was. She wondered if rehabilition was just a word used to keep the public happy, and not something that was actually as effective as it could have been. She liked to think it was possible. She liked that Ginoza thought it was possible. 

“I hope so,” Ginoza sighed. He took Akane's hand, laced their fingers together and held tight. 

“Me too.” 

“Akane.” Ginoza gave her a small smile. “Being a latent criminal isn't the only reason I think more about what I'm doing. You're right about that.” 

She squeezed his hand. “I know.” 

But he surprised her. “I'm a better person because of you, too.”


End file.
